Letters: Support for Palin comments, librarians

Invoking son's name,

Palin speaks volumes

Columnist Kathleen Parker's statements are way off ["Palin should tread carefully with Trig," Opinion, Feb. 14].

Those of us who parent children with special needs cannot have enough voices to champion our cause. I am proud to use my son Steven's name when I address those in education, school committees, churches and others. All of us who fight for their rights are choosing to give power to the powerless. Personally, I'll take any voice louder than mine.

Mary Lu Heinz

Nesconset

Google can't replace

our school librarians

I am the husband of a high school librarian in the Valley Stream Central High School District. My family would be directly and, most likely, adversely affected by one of the proposals offered by Superintendent Marc Bernstein ["If you're going to cut aid, cut mandates," Opinion, Feb. 12].

From an educational standpoint, the superintendent makes an astoundingly bad argument by targeting his district's librarians. He implies that simply replacing them with classroom Internet access will maintain educational standards. This would do the opposite.

Librarians are teachers of our children and resources for our educators. Most of all, they are skilled managers of the vast and growing information produced by our increasingly complex society. They cannot be replaced by a Google search.

Like my neighbors, I am concerned about high property taxes, and I applaud attempts to limit them. But if our children cannot learn effectively or find information about our world efficiently, then we all fail.

George Ouwendijk

Malverne

Editor's note: The writer is a professor of humanities and sciences at The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

Skier was Olympian

in body and spirit

I was truly impressed by the obituary on former U.S. Olympic skier Jimmie Heuga ["Jimmie Heuga, 66, ex-Olympic skier," News, Feb. 10]. As a fan of amateur sports, I always seek the athlete who is also an exceptional human being.

"He was a champion in every sense of the word," U.S. Ski Team President Bill Marolt said.

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Heuga personified fortitude and a will to inspire his fellow man.

The Jimmie Heuga Center for MS that he founded in 1983 is now called Can Do Multiple Sclerosis. To honor such a man, this organization should regain its original name. The youth of America should idolize men and women like him instead of the suspect heroes they worship today.

John Osvald

Hauppauge